One of the most important irrigation canals in Italy, which may be briefly described as illustrative of the system generally, is that of the Cavour Company, in Piedmont, which is derived from the left bank of the Po, near the town of Chivasso, and was constructed for the purpose of irrigating the provinces of the Vercellese, Novarese, and Lomellina. It was Francesco Rossi, a land surveyor of Vercelli, who, in 1844, first proposed to employ the waters of the Po for irrigation purposes. It was a good many years later, however, before the project was undertaken. The head works of the Canal Cavour are situated about 400 metres below the bridge over the river, on the road which connects Chivasso with the military road from Turin to Casale. The full discharge of this canal is 110 cubic metres per second, and its supply is obtained by means of a temporary dam of timber carried across the river. The sluice-house for regulating the supply of water to the canal is built across the canal, which is 40 metres in width, and consists of twenty-one openings separated by granite piers. Each opening is provided with three sluice-gates, which work in grooves cut in the granite piers, and can be easily raised or lowered by the sluice-keeper by means of a lever. The remainder of the building is constructed principally of dressed stone and bricks, and the contrast between the granite used for the quoins and the red brickwork has an excellent effect. Another sluice-house, placed at right angles to that of the main canal, communicates with that of the “Scaricatore,” or discharge channel, by means of which the surplus waters in times of floods may be discharged into the Po, and any deposit of gravel and sand on the floors in front of the entrance to the main canal can be effectually swept away by the velocity of the water discharged into the “Scaricatore,” which has a rapid fall, and enters the Po again, about 2 kilometres below the headworks. The quantity of material used in the construction of this important work was:— Excavation 695,000 cubic metres. Bricks 2,000,000. Dressed stone 3000 cubic metres. Stone for _revetment_ 3000 square metres. Lime 3500 tons. Oak piles 2200. Oak sheet piles 8100 square metres. Ironwork 39,780 kilos.